BIOACCUMULATION POTENTIAL AND ACUTE TOXICITY OF SYNTHETIC FUELS EFFLUENTS IN FRESHWATER BIOTA - AZAARENES

The extent to which three polycyclic aromatic bases, isoquinoline, acridine, and benz(a)acridine, are accumulated from aqueous solution by Daphnia pulex was evaluated. Bioaccumuiation kinetics were described as a first order approach to equilibrium in a two-compartment model (water and Daphnia) using a two-stage technique to resolve uptake and elimination rates while accounting for decreasing aqueous concentrations. The 24-h acute toxicities of the compounds were also determined. Equilibrium concentration factors increased dramatically with increasing molecular weights within the series of compounds and were also highly correlated with the calculated n-octanol/water partition coefficient. Benz(a)acridine, acridine, and isoquinoline were concentrated about 350-, 30-, and 2.5-fold, respectively, by Daphnia. Acute toxicity exhibited the same relationship with changing molecular weight, with 24-h LC50's of 0.4, 2.9, and 39.9 mg/L for benz(a)acridine, acridine, and isoquinoline, respectively. © 1978, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.